A shop that owns itself using the power of blockchain technology, in partnership with the people of Brixton.
Brixstop was part of my MA UX course at UAL, where we worked in collaboration with the activist design group, This Ain’t Rock’n’Roll. They have been working alongside Brixton Pound, a local currency that emerged during the aftermath of the 2008 and financial crisis. Brixton Pound are now looking to turn their paper-based currency into a cryptocurrency on the Algorand blockchain.
Whilst the technology had been solved by the Brixton Pound team, they wanted to look ahead and see how they could allow this technology to be in the hands of everyone and give a material benefit. After 2 months of trying to understand the complex and entangled systems of the blockchain and cryptocurrency, we produced the following: a store that owns itself.
Desk research to understand what the blockchain is.
We started by reading on the topic to understand the fundamentals of blockchain technology. We came to collective understanding that the blockchain was a decentralised digital ledger system used to store any kind of information. The whole system was transparent, with every transaction being viewable and once data is stored on the blockchain, absolute.
Running a co-design workshop to see how people understand the blockchain.
After investigating how the Pure proof of stake (PPoS) system worked on Algorand, we wanted to know how PPoS would work when materialised in a physical space. We ran a co-design workshop in two parts. The first part had participants play out a scenario where they could vote on a mayoral election depending how many coins they had on them. During this activity they found it to be unfair and saw that the person with the most wealth will always out vote the majority. In the second half we asked to how they would design a voting mechanism that they felt was fair, where they introduced randomness into the system. This is where we saw the complexities of coming to a consensus on what is seen as fair and accessible on the blockchain.
Artists Re:thinking the Blockchain
This book was used to gain deeper insight of the different applications of the blockchain beyond just being used for cryptocurrency. Two projects from this project stood out to us for having interesting outcomes:
Terra0:
A concept where an autonomous forest would sell it shares to humans, then over time it would buy back those shares so that it could own itself. This concept is known as a Decentralised Autonomous Corporation (DAC).
Plantoids:
The premise was that mechanical plants would entice humans with aesthetic beauty or intellectual beauty contained within the blockchain, specifically Bitcoin. Once a certain amount of Bitcoin had been donated to the Plantoid it would evolve, which would be a process of proposals and votes helped by humans that invested in the Plantoid.
Visiting Brixton to contextualise our research.
A short trip to the heart of our project was unavoidable. Amongst our findings were a moveable bookstore, in which people can donate their books or take other ones for free. We also heard about a communal fridge in which people can exchange food. These two examples successfully highlight the sense of community and trust among Brixton residents.
Synthesizing the data and ideation.
During our Crazy-8 session, we realised that a common point for our ideas would be an exchange of items of any kind to support each other as a community. Blockchain technology would be used to store and collect the data. This suggestion quickly led us to the idea: A shop that owns itself.
As a DAO, it would own itself by buying itself from its initial investors after gathering enough funds. Similarly to Plantoids, it would also be able to reproduce itself. It could invite people to submit proposals for the realisation of its next venue in a different location in Brixton.
Creating a lo-fi prototype.
At the midway point of the project, we created our first physical prototype. It was made of mostly cardboard and had little real functionality. But it showed to our partners the potential idea and helped communicate the premise. We also created large systems diagrams that broke down the process that was going on macro and micro, on the tangible and intangible level.
Refining the prototype through speed dating.
The following weeks we spent on refining and iterating on our initial design. This was mostly informed from our speed dating sessions which were incredibly insightful and revealed the need for huge shifts in our designs. Some participants made us feel like we did not reach the intentions we were willing to reach. Questions about the possible vandalism acts, theft, and even finding an incentive for the “pay as you feel scheme”, were all still there.
During this time, we developed a digital interface that I initially designed. In the first version of the app, we assumed that your phone would handle all transactions between you and the store. But we realised from internal conversation and feedback from other colleagues that this would exclude people without smartphones and would be against the ideals behind this project. Additionally, it was becoming very complex and we wanted focus our attention on the main brief, materialising the blockchain.
Creating the mid-fidelity prototype.
From this feedback we created our mid-fidelity prototype with higher interaction and the inclusion of our digital interface. It also included a new system that worked by a numerical code that is distributed by word of mouth. We felt this was a good way of validating through “proof of friendship”; if I trust my friend to use this system, I will give them the code.
We materialised blockchain transactions being recorded, using loo roll. People could record their transactions, with the idea being that, eventually you would see a long list of transactions that you could look through, showing transparency and how they are linked together.
Constructing the high-fidelity prototype.
The final prototype saw us employing interface design, creative coding, and product design to see through the high-fidelity quality. We also tested regularly with the cohort around us to make sure each interaction was clear and communicated our idea of a blockchain based common pool resource.
Our final product, called "Brixstop", took the following realisation:
- Word Of Mouth: Instead of using QR codes and usernames with passwords to unlock the store, the experience would be accessible through a secret code or phrase. It would be limitedly shared across the Brixton community by people who trust each other enough keep the code as private as possible. This affirms the notion of trust among the Brixton community.
- No phones: You would not use a mobile application to reserve items on the Brixstops. It would ensure that it is equally accessible to everyone. You would only need to create an account if you wish to donate to the Brixstop, thus participate in the voting of proposals. Additionally, we figured that one does not simply experience the blockchain through an interface design. The brief was to materialize the blockchain and make it experienceable, thus a simple interface design may be a little too limiting.
- Each transaction would be automatically recorded and printed in a transparent box. This was used to reflect on the blockchain’s transparency. Although we could have found a more sustainable option, this method remains in my opinion a good way to materialize the blockchain.
- Every Brixspot would be different than the other one. The proposals would not only suggest design of the shop, but would also suggest potential themes and categories of items to be exchanged, which would reflect people’s needs.
See more of my projects ↵
Our final product, called "Brixstop", took the following realisation:
- Word Of Mouth: Instead of using QR codes and usernames with passwords to unlock the store, the experience would be accessible through a secret code or phrase. It would be limitedly shared across the Brixton community by people who trust each other enough keep the code as private as possible. This affirms the notion of trust among the Brixton community.
- No phones: You would not a mobile application to reserve items on the Brixspots. It would ensure that it is equally accessible to everyone. You would only need to create an account if you wish to donate to the Brixspot, thus participate in the voting of proposals. Additionally, we figured that one does not simply experience the blockchain through an interface design. The brief was to materialize the blockchain and make it experienceable, thus a simple interface design may be a little too limiting.
- Each transaction would be automatically recorded and printed in a transparent box. This was used to reflect on the blockchain’s transparency. Although we could have found a more sustainable option, this method remains in my opinion a good way to materialize the blockchain.
- Every Brixspot would be different than the other one. The proposals would not only suggest design of the shop, but would also suggest potential themes and categories of items to be exchanged, which would reflect people’s needs.
